Birthday Invitations :)

Here are the invitations I was working on yesterday for Jamie's 6th birthday. The party hat and sentiment are from The Cat's Pajamas, and patterned paper is from SEI's Doodley Doo Boy line - isn't it great?

Nattie is sleeping over at a friend's tonight, so it'll just be Iain, Jamie and me (and the pets, of course!). We're letting Jamie choose what movie we'll watch, so I'm wondering what he'll pick..."Over the Hedge", "Shrek 3", "Open Season", "Ice Age", "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie"...who knows??

Have a fantastic weekend, whatever you're up to!! I'll be back over the weekend with another card :)

Par-Tay!

I'm working on invitations for Jamie's birthday party next month. I decided to pull out some of the older stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, so I'm going to use Party Hat as the main image. And I found some patterned paper from SEI that will be perfect for little boy invitations :) I'm hoping to get them colored and finished by tomorrow, so I'll post them when they're done! Enjoy your Thursday evening :)

Thursday Hello!

Here's another card made with the "Greetings Blocks" set from Queen Kat Designs. I decided to use this patterned paper from Making Memories' "Cheeky" collection with it :) In other QKD news, the super-talented Ana Wohlfahrt is the Guest Designer for March! Check out Ana's creations for QKD right here.

How is everyone's week going? The weather has been positively balmy here - we went over 50 degrees yesterday! I think the last time it was that warm here was...oh...last fall! LOL! We've been living in Colorado for over a year now and one of my favorite things has been experiencing 4 seasons for the first time in many years!

Yesterday the home healthcare company dropped off a little device that I had to wear last night to measure my oxygen levels while I was sleeping. It was part of the sleep study last week, but since that was done in Denver and we're about 3000+ feet higher up here in Conifer, the doctor wanted these figures too...I woke up a couple of times during the night and the oxygen was in the mid-80s, so still not good. Grrr......

My plans for today are pretty simple: stamping! I was going to work on my part of our team paper for school, but the link in our syllabus isn't working, so we can't move forward with it until the instructor sorts it out for us. Bummer, huh? I'm thinking I'll go up and stamp a bunch of images, then sit and catch up on the last couple of episodes of "Big Brother" while I color them in :) Have a great day!

Just Ducky!

I made these last week when I was on a roll with my stitching! The duck is part of a set by A Muse.

Pink and Green ATC Swap

Hi! I hope your week is going well. Here's an ATC I made for an upcoming swap on Splitcoast Stampers. For the background I used the "Balls" stamp from The Cat's Pajamas: I stamped it in pink, then heat embossed it. The main image is also from TCP and is called "Hatching Sprinkle" :)

Have a happy Wednesday!

Tuesday update :)

Well, my sleep study went relatively smoothly. I think I looked like Medusa with all those probes sticking out of my head! I did get some sleep and was woken up around 6.30am. It turns out that throughout the night my oxygen frequently dipped down to 85-86%, which isn't too good, considering that they usually want it to be around 95%. I was also snoring loudly, according to the technician. He also said that I probably lost 3-4 hours of quality sleep time. That's the scary thing about sleep apnea: even though we think we're getting "quality" sleep, we're not really, because of all the times when we're stopping breathing, and our body is readjusting, trying to get back to sleep.

Next is the CT scan which is being scheduled next week, and then my doctor and I can chat and see what will happen next. Thank you everyone for all your good wishes - I'll keep you posted! I guess "the tank" and I will be friends for a little while longer...

New stamps from Queen Kat Designs :)

This set is called "Greetings Blocks" and will be available from Queen Kat Designs. It's an extremely versatile set!

Off to catch some zzzz's....

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend! I'm heading out this evening to have another sleep study done; the doctor wants to see how I'm doing. The funny thing is, they call it a sleep study, but sleeping with 2 dozen probes attached is virtually impossible....

This photo of Jamie was taken last weekend when we got another few inches of snow. Not much on the ground right now though! In fact, when we got up this morning it was already 42 degrees!

I'll be back tomorrow with a card :) See ya!

Greetings Blocks Friend Card

Hi all! I hope you're enjoying your weekend :) I've been playing with a new set of stamps from Queen Kat Designs this week. The set is called Greetings Blocks and will be available very soon! This is a very simple card. I did lots of stitching around the edges of the sentiment and the card itself to add some texture...I'm thinking this technique would look good on a "guy" card! The striped patterned paper is from the "Elegance" line by Kaiser Scrapbook.

I've posted another card using this set over on the Queen Kat Designs blog, right here. Come and check it out!

It's time for me to head off and get busy reading...I have a paper due on Monday...

Thursday ramblings :)

Here's another card made with that adorable octopus from A Muse :) He's so sweet! I really like the color combo on here - nice and bright!

Nattie made it to the 4th round out of 6 in the Mountain Area Spelling Bee yesterday. There were kids there from all the local elementary schools as well as 6th, 7th and 8th graders from the middle school hosting the Bee! The words were tough right from the start and we were very proud of Nattie and her classmates :) In fact, the boy who won the Bee at Nattie's school won yesterday's Bee too - he beat out all those "big kids"! All of us supporters were thrilled!

My visit to the pulmonologist went pretty well; I still have "the tank" at home and he wants me to continue to use the oxygen at night until he can get a little machine up here to Conifer and get my night oxygen levels (while on room air) measured properly. If all goes well then we can get rid of "the tank" at that point. He's also still a little concerned about my sleep apnea and allergies that might be decreasing my oxygen intake, so he wants me to have a CT scan of my sinus area and do another sleep study. Geez! Will it ever end??? Better to have this stuff checked out though, right?

I'm back in online classes this week for the first time since before the holidays. My brain is not adjusting too well to having to do all this studying again! LOL! My class is "Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice", so I think it will turn out to be quite interesting. I've promised myself that if I make a start on the research for a paper that's due on Monday then I can go upstairs and stamp for the rest of the day - that's a good deal, right? :) So have a great Thursday, everyone - and as always, thanks for stopping by!

A simple "hi" and a busy Wednesday!

Here's another project that I did this month for my Creative Cuts and More DT Assignment. I had to use a flower die cut in half, as well as the antique label. I thought it would be fun to have them cut from the velvet paper to play with that effect, and I really like the way it turned out! The rest of the card is Bazzill Smoothies cardstock and sticker letters from KI Memories.

Quite a busy Wednesday ahead: in the morning I'm going to Denver to see the pulmonologist to find out if I have to continue using the oxygen tank at night (fingers crossed!), then I have to be back in Conifer by 1pm for the Mountain Area Spelling Bee! Once again Nattie has studied very hard. She and the other two kids representing their school are pretty nervous, but I think they'll all do a fantastic job :) Oh - and if I have time, I'll make a pit stop at Target to pick up "Michael Clayton" on DVD!

The weather here was beautiful today! We went over 40 degrees! Woo hoo! Have a terrific Wednesday, everyone - and thanks for stopping by!

Cheery Tuesday :)

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. I spent some of my time stamping on Saturday and made a few Spring cards with a new set I picked up by Hero Arts. I've been a longtime fan of theirs and this set did not disappoint at all! I stamped the flowers and grass on white cardstock, trimmed the panel and colored the images with my Copic markers. On separate papers I stamped the cat and the dog, colored them and trimmed them. Next I mounted them on the front of the prepared card with pop dots so that they stand out from the flower images. How can you not smile looking at these sweet faces! LOL! Have a great start to this short week! :)

Awwww - so cute!

Aren't they all sweet? Thought I'd do a quick post with some recent pet photos - well, at least of the ones that sat still for a few seconds the other day :) The sleeping cat is Pickle, the little (now big again) guy who ran away and got into goodness-knows-what type of adventures for a month before returning home last October! The other cat is Bailey, now 7 months old and an absolute riot! And of course how could I forget our little puppy (!) Tasha - just over a year old now, and full of beans! Thanks for stopping by :)

Tagged -

by one of my blog friends, Linda! Here goes...

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tag 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago: We were living in an apartment in the Bay Area, CA, saving up for the downpayment on our first house; Nattie was just 16 months old!
Things on my to-do list today: Make dentist appointments for everyone; buy cat food (they're all looking at me tonight as if to say "you think this is enough for four of us???" :)
What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire: Pay off bills, then travel, travel, travel!
3 of my bad habits: Emotional eating; taking a long time to trust people; sometimes having difficulty saying "no".
3 places I have lived: Edinburgh, Scotland; Boston, MA; Murrieta, CA
5 jobs that I have had: Grocery store clerk; HR Admin team leader; Receptionist; SAHM; DT Member :)
5 Things people don't know about me: I get anxious very easily; I have freckles; I love the music of the '80s; Iain and I had a stillborn baby girl in 1995; the only jewelry I wear regularly is my wedding ring.

Hmmm...who's gonna be tagged now??? Oh, alright then - here you go Heather, Janet, and Sue :) Enjoy!

Random Sunday Questions: Do You Remember...

Your first day at a new school? I remember my first day at primary (elementary) school in Dalgety Bay, Scotland. I was 5 years old (Summer 1977 - Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee celebrations were going on around the country) and we had just moved up to Scotland from England so that my dad could start his new job.
Your first job interview? Did you get the job? My first proper interview was when I was 16, for a position as a checkout clerk at Wm. Low's (the new grocery store in our town!). I started the following week!
Your first house or apartment on your own? This is a tough one for me. I left home when I was 17 years old so that I could live closer to school in Edinburgh instead of having to commute on train and bus every day. My mum was not happy at all and refused to help me pack or move. I had to get my friend's mum to drive me and my stuff over to Edinburgh. I lived on my own for about 3 years before meeting and eventually moving in with Iain.
Your first taste of sushi? I've never tried sushi! Too scared - it's a texture thing :)
Your first paycheck? Did you buy anything special? Yep - my first pair of Levi's jeans! Saved up for several weeks for them and wore them until they fell apart! :)

Sabrina, Darcey, and Heather - consider yourselves tagged with these questions! Enjoy :)

Bridal Kitty :) And Happy Birthday Gramps!!

This is another Creative Cuts and More DT project. This time I used the Circle Window Card and a scalloped frame around the window, decorated with rhinestones. Inside I stamped TCP's Bridal Kitty, decorated the image with Stickles and then used a scalloped circle punch to cut out the image before attaching it inside. The doodling on the outside of the cardstock was done by hand with a white Signo Gel Pen. Pretty daring for me! :)

Today is my grandad's 95th birthday! Wow! How cool is that?? Gramps, I hope you have a terrific day. We all love you and miss you!

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone! And thank you for stopping by!

Scalloped Bag

This is one of my first DT projects for Creative Cuts and More. Terry sent me the Scalloped Bag cut from a beautiful shimmer white cardstock. I stamped images from MFT's Build A Bouquet set using one of the ColorBox Ink Queues in Rainbow Sherbet, cut them out, layered them with brads and attached them to the front of the bag, completing the project with some ribbon through the handle. Imagine how sweet this would be filled with Easter candy or other treats! Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of the weekend :)

Elzybells ATCs!

I signed up for yet another ATC swap last week - 2 spots in an Elzybells swap, and these are the cards I made. I have to say, I love them! These images are really easy to work with, and fun to color. On the first ATC the patterned paper is by Deja Views, and the green cardstock is Bazzill Bling (one of my favorites right now!). I colored the image with markers and added a little sparkle with my Stickles.

The other ATC is a sweet little "Get Well" image. For this one I used the "Boho Chic" line of patterned paper from Making Memories, and found some pretty purple lace in my stash to use as an embellishment. Have a great weekend - and thanks for stopping by!

You're my cup of tea!

This stamp and sentiment from A Muse Stamps are perfect for tea-lovers like myself! I used one of the Cuttlebug embossing folders for the cream card front, and Nestabilities dies to cut all the ovals.

The sweet little octopus and sentiment are also by A Muse! On this card, patterned paper is once again Scribble Scrabble (love their stuff right now!). The images on both stamps were colored with Copic and PrismaColor markers. Have a great Friday, everyone!

Card Making Princesses!

Here's a fun button from Queen Kat Designs that I'm giving to some Card Making Princesses whose work I admire often! Take the button and display it proudly on your blog! :)

Linda
Karrie
Linda
Shirley
and Katie

Happy Hearts Day!

Hi! Today's card is a Valentine's card made with images from The Cat's Pajamas. The patterned paper is from Scribble Scrabble and the clear tile in the bottom left corner is from the Fragments line by Tim Holtz. I just backed it with a piece of the patterned paper and it makes the perfect matching embellishment!

I got some beautiful flowers from Iain yesterday (the flower shop delivered them early because we were getting snow today) and a funny card :) The kids had all their Valentines written out for their classmates, ready for their little parties at school.

Have a great Thursday! I'm staying cozy at home, watching the snow fall outside :)

Cookie dough, anyone?

Yes - it's that time of the year! School fundraisers! And as a result I have a freezer full of cookie dough - 6 boxes of the stuff, to be exact! Because, you know, you have to order at least 3 boxes per child so that they can get to play on the bouncy castle that is reserved only for the kids that order at least 3 boxes!! Geez - we'll have to eat cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner just to get through them - which reminds me...I need to go and turn the oven on....

Today's card is another one made with Outlines Rubber Stamps - lots of coloring, cutting, and layering...combined with some beautiful patterned paper by Scribble Scrabble :) Have a great Wednesday!

Another bright 'n' breezy card :)

In case you didn't get enough of that super-bright color scheme earlier today, here's one more card made with paper from that American Crafts collection. The stamp this time is from Elzybells - isn't the little girl sweet! The flowers were made with a punch from the Martha Stewart line at Michael's. I'll be back tomorrow with more cards...

Happy Day!

Making these cards this morning just made me happy! How could they not, with all the bright colors and pretty flower image with candles! I got this stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamps - I've been drawn to them recently because there's lots to color on them, and great potential for layering and adding dimension. On these ones I layered the frame and the large part of the flower; hopefully you can see it on the photos. The patterned paper is by American Crafts.

Not too much going on today; I went grocery shopping, finished up about 6 different cards for posting online this week, played outside with Tasha for a bit, and will be picking up the kiddos from school later since Nattie has her orthodontist appointment. Iain's away in Kansas City just for the night, so it'll just be Nattie and me watching American Idol :) Enjoy the rest of your day!

ATC Challenge :)

These are the two sides of my first "Deck of Me" ATC challenge that I'm doing with Sue. Our first theme was "what makes you proud?". Happy Monday, everyone!

Purple showers! And blog candy!

Hi everyone :) I hope you're having a great Sunday! My plans for today? Well...I think I'll do some laundry - and some stamping! Iain is going to take my car to get new tires, and will probably take Jamie with him - and Nattie and I will hang out here at home.

Today's card is made with an older set from My Favorite Things called "Shower Time". For this card I stamped the image on white cardstock and patterned paper, then cut the umbrella part out of the patterned paper and attached it to the other stamped image. I love how this one turned out!

The patterned paper is from Deja Views, the purple cardstock is Bazzill Bling, and the tiny crystals are by Outlines Rubber Stamps. Thanks for stopping by - and enjoy your Sunday!

Oh - and be sure to check out the new releases from Queen Kat Designs - they are up on the blog right here :) And you can enter here to win some Valentine blog candy! Good luck!

ATC Swap :)

I was in an ATC swap recently over on Splitcoast Stampers. I joined 2 groups: Hugs & Kisses and Spring Flowers. These ATCs are two of my favorites that I received in the mail!

The one on the left is by Jody (jodylynn on SCS) - I love the color combo, and my photo doesn't show it too clearly, but the paper and image are very "shimmery" (is that a word?).

The other ATC is by Jessica (jlazarski on SCS), and the little brown package is actually a pack of wildflower seeds! What a great idea to incorporate them with the ATC! Thank you Jody and Jessica for letting me share your work on my blog :)

DT News!

I have some news! This week I was asked by the owner, Vicki, to join the DT of Queen Kat Designs - this company makes acrylic stamps and monthly scrapbooking kits which are soooo cute and unique! These sweet little monster stamps are the first images I got to work with and I think they are tons of fun for kids' birthday cards! Anyway, the DT blog is right here - check it out and give this great group of ladies some blog love!

What are your weekend plans? I think I might start to do some reading for my next school class that starts on the 19th. I think I'm gonna have quite a hard time getting back into the school "groove" after so many weeks away from studying, but I'll get there! The forecast here says that we might even hit 40 degrees over the weekend! Positively balmy! Have a great one, whatever you're doing :)

Hey Chick!

Another card made with MFT's new Easter stamps - a set called "Eggstra-Special Easter" :) When I was making this card yesterday, I had attached the animals and stamped the grass and realized that the sky should be blue, not white. I didn't have any little sponges lying around, so I put some ink on my fingertip and lightly dabbed it on the cardstock - it worked just perfect! I think I have read somewhere that our hands are the best tool - and I definitely agreed with that yesterday!

I hope everyone has a great Thursday - I'm looking forward to Survivor starting tonight - Fans vs. Favorites! Woo hoo!

Serenity Now

This is one of the new sets being released tonight by My Favorite Things (see my post yesterday for the info) - I think it's such a cool theme for a stamp set! My friend Leigh Anne in CA likes yoga so I predict that she may be receiving a couple of these cards :)

The patterned paper I used is from the "Manhattan" collection by Autumn Leaves. I love the colors - very calm and soothing - and therefore perfect for this stamp set! Thanks for looking!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Sabrina to share 7 random/weird facts about myself...hmmm....here goes...

• Even though I lived in the UK for 22 years, I never went to Wales!
• I don't like my food touching, especially if there is a sauce involved :)
• My favorite subjects at high school and college were foreign languages: French, German, and Spanish. It wasn't until years later that I found out that my maternal great-grandmother was German and taught foreign languages!
• I have had freckles (or "sun kisses", as my Dad called them) for as long as I can remember.
• I cry easily at sappy movies!
• I can flare my nostrils!
• On a trip back from Scotland to the U.S. in 2004, we met Simon Cowell! He was on our flight from Glasgow to London Heathrow and we went and caught up with him at baggage claim. He was soooo nice (and cute!) and gave Nattie his autograph!

And now, in true blog tag fashion, I am tagging seven fellow bloggers to take up this challenge (apologies if you've already been tagged):

Patti
Lisa
Debbie
Sue
Karrie
Katie
Linda

MFT New Release Party!

My Favorite Things (www.mftstamps.com) is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, February 6 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time. Lots of fun is planned including finding out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer!

Head over to the MFT forum on www.splitcoaststampers.com to find out all the details and join us there on Wednesday night. And come back here tomorrow to see a card made with some of the new MFT stamps :)

Beautiful!

Here's what we woke up to this morning. Tasha took full advantage of all the new, fluffy snow by running around crazy for 20 minutes!

Sharing some love...

Hi! Happy Monday! Here's a little love for you this Monday morning. I made this one over the weekend with the "Puppy Love" set from TCP - I colored the lovebirds with my Copic markers and shaded them around the edges with my favorite Gray shade to add dimension.

The patterned paper is from Daisy D's - I love the touch of purple on there! I also added some faux stitching by using my black pen to make "holes" and then the white Signo gel pen for the "stitches". No needle and thread required!

Valentine ATC

This is an ATC that I made for a recent swap over on Splitcoast Stampers. I really like the way it turned out - and I think I am in love with the ticket punch that Lisa sent me!! :) The stamps are from The Cat's Pajamas, patterned paper by Cloud 9 Design, and glitter dots from Gina K's website.

Have an awesome Sunday!

A Saturday game of blog tag :)

Courtesy of Karrie! Here goes...

• You must post the rules before you give your answers.
• You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name.
• Each fact must begin with that letter.
• If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.
• After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers.
• At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details).

I'm having to use my maiden name since I don't have a middle name (sniff, sniff...)

M = my own biggest critic. Aren't we all in some form or another?
A = arty! Of course I have to say that! The funny thing is that when I was younger my parents weren't particularly supportive of my creative side...I'm so glad that I stuck with it though!
R = resourceful. I can usually figure out a way to do something, somehow :)
S = shy. It takes me quite a while to get to open up to people...but when I do, then my British sarcastic side comes out and I'm ready to go :)
H = hopeful! I'm optimistic, even when a situation seems very difficult (families, anyone?)

So now the whole tagging five other people...I am tagging....

Sue
Linda
Katy
Janet
and Jill

Have fun!

And the winner is...

Darcey!! Yeah Darcey! I will get the set of cards out in the mail to you on Monday :) Thanks everyone for playing along!

Today's card is a nice, easy one made with the "Hot Stuff" set from My Favorite Things. The February stamps by MFT will be released on Wednesday 2/6, so look out here later in the week for some samples. Have a fantastic Saturday!

TGIF!

I love Fridays. The end of the week with the whole weekend ahead! This afternoon I'm going to Nattie's school to watch her participate in the Spelling Bee...she was very nervous this morning but has worked extremely hard studying the packet the kids were given. Unfortunately Iain can't come because he's staying home with Jamie, who has a really bad cold. I don't think the other spellers would appreciate his nose-blowing/sniffling every few minutes :)

We haven't quite decided what we're doing this weekend. The forecast is pretty decent (only 30% chance of snow), so who knows what we'll get up to? MFT has their February release next week, so at the very least I'll be making card samples for that. The new sets are tons of fun, in particular one set called "Twisted Sentiments" that you can read about on Kim's blog right here...and "twisted" is the right word! LOL! Today's card is made with one of the mini sets from MFT called "Shower Time".

So whatever you're doing, have a fabulous weekend! I'll be back in the morning to post the winner of the card set from yesterday's post!

ETA: Nattie came second in the Spelling Bee! She gets to progress to the next round in a few weeks! Wow! She looked so proud of herself standing up there :)